VENTANITAS -- STORIES ABOUT AND FROM LITTLE HAVANA

I WILL BE FEATURED IN THIS DOCUMENTARY PREMIERING THIS FALL

I can't wait for the fall premiere of Ventanitas -- Stories About and from Little by award-winning Miami documentarian Joe Cardona. 

I will appear on camara as a 20+ year LH resident, storyteller, activist & aplatanado.

Ventanitas are the windows where you buy Cuban coffee. 

But they are much more than a place to sip cafe Cubano con mucho azucar. 

There used to be dozens of ventanitas on Calle Ocho -- but the commercial success of a main street with upwards of four million visitors has reduced their numbers.

I’ve admired Joe’s work for years and it was a pleasure to show off my 100-year-old Shenandoah home (purchased from Santeros) and walk around my adopted hometown for half a day.

I told my stories from the heart.

Hopefully, I will come off as a protagonist when the film debuts in Little Havana.

Joe Cardona was honored with a National Emmy for his 2014 historic documentary “The day it snowed in Miami”, a film that he wrote, produced and directed for PBS national network.

He has made dozens of films covering culture, politics and the essence of 21^st century Miami.

8 REASONS TO FALL IN LOVE WITH LITTLE HAVANA AND CALLE OCHO

COURTESY OF MIAMI.COM

By Tere Figueras Negrete | negretecommunications@gmail.com 3/12/2016

From the strains of salsa music that spill from storefronts to the iconic ventanitas that dispense potent doses of Cuban coffee – and even more potent political discourse – you’d be hard-pressed to find a Miami neighborhood more, well, Miami than Little Havana.

Changing demographics and the ever-shifting geopolitics of our hemisphere has meant that the neighborhood is also now proudly home to not only Cubans, but Nicaraguans, Hondurans, and other immigrants from the Caribbean and Latin America. But it will forever remain the spiritual center of Miami’s Cuban exile community, both burdened and blessed by history and circumstance. 

Where else can you find street art that celebrates both dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez and Pitbull?

Here’s just a few reasons why we will always have big love for Little Havana:

#3. Ball & Chain

Like most everything in Miami, the swinging bar and live-music venue on Calle Ocho has a dubious past. First opened in the 1930’s, its history includes a clientele that represented the finest of Miami’s criminal underbelly and a shady repertoire of former owners -- one of whom was sued for said shadiness by the legendary Count Basie. New owners Bill Fuller and brothers Zack and Ben Bush have kept the place legit, resurrecting the bar’s architectural charms (and great mojitos) and keeping the now-trademark neon sign aglow since 2014. Can’t make it out to Little Havana? This year the club began broadcasting a live jazz radio program on WDNA, which features live performances from the Ball & Chain stage

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